Doctor warns GPs are 'unable to find work'

Dr Green - not pictured - said that, on average, 15% of Wokingham patients are contacting their GP surgery every week.

A leading doctor has warned that GPs in Berkshire are “unable to find work” despite huge pressures on primary care.

Areas across West Berkshire were recently identified as having some of the lowest numbers of GPs per population.

Practices are unable to take on new doctors as they have been “defunded to below the point of financial viability”, the chairperson of Berkshire’s Local Medical Committee (LMC) said.

Dr Mark Green said financial restrictions on practices have made finding work for GPs difficult.

BBC analysis earlier this month found that the NHS trust covering West Berkshire – which includes Wokingham and Reading and West Berkshire villages – have 2,535 people per GP.

Dr Green explained: “General practice is currently functioning on its lowest share of the NHS budget in over two decades, and there are fewer GPs than ten years ago, with a growing and ageing population.”

Liberal Democrat MP Clive Jones said healthcare must meet growing demand

Dr Green said, on average, 15% of Wokingham patients are contacting their GP surgery every week.

He continued: “Many GPs are unable to find work due to practices being defended below the point of financial viability.”

Dr Green said that finding a solution “will not be easy”, but that it would not be found by increasing access “at the cost of patient outcomes and continuity of care”.

He recently met with Wokingham MP Clive Jones at a roundtable for GPs and staff.

The Liberal Democrat has highlighted his concern over the lack of primary care provision across the Wokingham borough as thousands of new homes are set to be built.

Speaking in Parliament last week, he said that the borough needs "an increased number of GPs to cope with all the extra patients that the new building brings".

The government has previously said it was developing plans to train more doctors and relieve some of the pressure by giving pharmacists more responsibilities.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Care said the new government had also cut red tape to make it easier to recruit doctors.

“This government is determined to work with the NHS to fix the front door of our health service and ensure everyone can access GP services," she added.